Wien

Yesterday I arrived in Wien (Vienna). It's a lovely city, so much to see and do, very easy to get around, and not as expensive as I expected.

My good impressions are also biased by the way that I got here--in contrast to the trip from Dresden to Praha, going from Praha to Wien, everyting went right. I got to the main station in Praha easily and without hiccups, the train was comfortable and air conditioned, I had a window seat and was facing forwards, I found a good spot for my luggage before all the luggage spaces filled up... etc. Four hours and 15 minutes later I was in Wien, hopped on a tram and arrived at the hostel without getting lost (!). The hostel room is decent, the staff friendly and efficienct.

I'm staying about 15-20 minutes walk from the centre of town, but there's a U-bahn station at the end of the street, so there's no need to walk. But I have walked it (along Mariahilfergasse); it's a busy shopping and eating strip, the modern part of town I guess.

So far all I've managed to do was walk around a bit (even despite the heat... although the evenings are a great time to walk) and take some photos. Today I went to Schönbrunn, where there's a lovely old palace and massive gardens (and I mean massive), filled with fountains, statutes, monuments, etc. I was asked three times in about 15 minutes to take photos of/for people!

Wien is a great place to wander through (moreso when it's not so hot... 31C today), and whilst there's lots of tourists, they're not always all that noticeable. (Apart from some very rich Saudis who are in town... I saw one being driven around in a Rolls Royce; a Porsche Cayenne with arabic number plates; a woman with black full-body veil... but sporting Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses and Fendi handbag...)

And when wandering gets tiresome, there's the U-bahn. It's so fast, and so frequent, and so efficient. Ok, there's no air conditioning so it's not perfect, and the platforms are a fair way underground sometimes so there's a bit of walking (but not as bad as in Praha, where it felt quicker to walk to my destination than to navigate the labyrinths leading from the street to the metro platform). The doors on the trains are interesting too... there's a quick buzz whilst they're closing, and within less than a second they slam (yes, slam) shut. Then about 2 seconds later the train takes off... I reckon these things must reach at least 100km/h. So all seems kind of dangerous if you're not paying attention.

Tomorrow I'm off on a day trip to Budapest... which is exciting, other than the 6.15am start! Friday and Saturday are my last two days here (and in Europe, sans airports) so I'm not sure yet what to do. I'm sure I'll find something. There's museums galore here... perhaps I'll try and look at one without getting bored. Worth a go.

Praha

Greetings from the world’s largest theme park! And no, it’s not Disney Land—but it is filled with American tourists, Italian restaurants and loads and loads of kitsch.

Yup, I’m in Praha (Prague). It’s an interesting—and big—city, but at peak tourist season it’s kind of strange. There are people EVERYWHERE taking photos of EVERYTHING. I feel bad whenever I take out my camera as it must mean I’m one of them. (Which I am, but I don’t like to admit it). One of the most popular attractions is the ‘astronomical clock’ (as in astronomy, not the exaggerative adjective), which makes some noise every hour and some little figures spin around. Ok, it’s kind of pretty (for children perhaps) but it’s really nothing special. I’ve seen more impressive displays on cuckoo clocks. Yet every hour hoards (and I mean hundreds) of tourists gather in front to watch it. I happened to be walking past on the hour on two occasions—once at night, where there were more flashes than an Olympics opening ceremony. At the end was a big applause and cheering (with the odd ‘happy new year’—cynical?).

People really are crazy. That and the fact that so many attractions, museums, restaurants here are complete rip offs… yet they obviously survive.

Now that rant’s out of the way, it’s time for another one. I arrived here on Saturday via train from Dresden—a very hot trip with the discomfort steadily increasing as the journey went on. Arriving in Praha (on a very hot day… actually, all the days have been very hot this week) I had to get onto the metro (underground train thing, like Berlin’s U-bahn) and then somehow find the hostel I was booked in at. That took a while and I was very hot and bothered by the time I arrived there.

…Only to be met at the door by a 75 year old woman (she told me her age). She was very friendly, spoke good English, and was kind of funny. But oh so awfully slow. Everything had to be done at a snail’s pace and checked in triplicate. Twice. My booking had been lost by the dodgy hostel, so she had to call her manager and he told her what room to put me in. That was the quick bit—in total, checking in took a whole hour! She went through the motions, got my details, money, etc and then showed me the room—which was totally underwhelming but by that stage I was tired and over it. Besides, it was relatively (the stress on the relatively) good price for a single room. She then had to change the linen, etc, and that took another eon or so.

Once that was all over… and by this stage I was almost over it all… I went for a wander around, lunch, a 2 hour bike ride (not the best, as there are wonky cobblestones everywhere here. It kind of hurts on a bike. That and there are hardly any bicycles here at all—I’ve seen on average maybe 5 a day at most). I then went back to the hostel to shower and change.

… Only to walk into the shower on my floor (the hostel was over the 3rd and 4th floors of a building), turn the tap on, and find something rather unpleasant coming up through the drain, which was obviously connected via very bad plumbing to the toilet. Hmmm.

So I then, of course, had a quick shower upstairs—also a dirty bathroom and a dodgy (but a bit cleaner) shower with no holder for the shower nozzle. By this stage I was really upset—the hostel was totally disgusting and if something like that was operating in Australia it would be closed down by state health departments—so I went for a walk, a drink, had dinner… wasn’t in the mood for going out. So I resolved the next day to find a better place to stay. Even if I had to pay through the nose for it, I didn’t care.

The last straw was discovering that there was only one power point in my room, hidden behind a bed. And it didn’t work.

Well, thankfully I found somewhere else straight away, thanks to an Internet café. This place (Lion Hostel—I recommend it) wasn’t cheap for a single room for two nights, but it was less than I was expecting I’d have to pay for a hotel room at same day’s notice in peak season. It’s really lovely here actually, the room is clean, the bed is clean, I have my own bathroom with properly functioning plumbing, and a balcony (there’s also a TV and fridge, not that I use those). Once I had checked into here (and did a rather painful luggage move from one end of town to the other, via slow Sunday timetable trams and hot weather) I had a shower and walked outside, feeling all fresh and new.

Oh, and that morning (before the hostel transfer) I went for a walk around town, and across one of the bridges to the western side of the river, and up the hill to the castle. It’s lovely up there, albeit very hot walking in the sun, and I was even allowed a quick peak in the cathedral. Very nice.

That afternoon (after the transfer) I did some general wandering, walking around pretty much everywhere in the old town, taking oodles of photos like the good tourist I am. It’s quite easy to get lost here, as the tourist maps don’t have every single street named, and even worse, the city government hasn’t really made much effort to label every street—there’s one sign hidden away somewhere on each one, but often at the end of the street only, or at big intersections. That and the winding character of some of the streets makes it rather easy to get lost!

Last night I was very tired so I just had dinner, walked around a bit more, then walked back to the hostel to sleep. Today was more walking and wandering, although I used the metro to help me. After breakfast (and it’s alarmingly difficult to find anywhere here that is a. open before 9am; b. serves decent food/pastries; c. has coffee) I went to the Holesovice railway station to ask about getting a ticket to Wien (Vienna) tomorrow… it was surprisingly easy actually, I just had to pick a time and I was issued a ticket for that train (now fingers crossed that Czech rail works…)

I then decided to wander around the main railway station, which is out of town a bit…. Well, there’s nothing there, all I found was an old amusement park / show grounds. By this stage my feet were starting to hurt—I’ve had bad blisters for a few days and today it was really quite painful.

After that I metro-ed to Vyšehrad, the church and gardens (and other assorted old buildings) where the first King of the Czechs lived. It’s a nice place, lots of shade thankfully, and spectacular views of the city (it’s up on a hill to the south). I then had an early lunch—hey I was hungry—and then proceeded to get rather lost trying to find the metro (the big hill meant that roads in reality didn’t quite behave like roads on the map). I eventually got there, feet KILLING me, so then made it back to the hostel. I needed a siesta for a few hours after that.

And then this afternoon I went to check out Jiriho z Podebrad to the south-east, but found not much other than the TV tower—it was tempting to have dinner in the restaurant at the top, but it was very overpriced. So I went back into town and got ripped off having what I thought would be cheap (and bad) Chinese food. Oh well. Nothing a walk along the river couldn’t fix… although it was a quick walk as my feet still hurt.

Tomorrow is Wien! I’ll post more photos soon.

Leipzig und Dresden

Well, I’m now sitting on the train from Dresden to Praha (a very nice trip actually.. so much to see outside the windows). However, I’m not too comfortable as it’s a VERY hot day here, full sun, and the air con in this train carriage doesn’t work too well.

Getting to the station this morning was rather difficult—I was meant to get tram 13 for 2 stops then tram 7 to the main railway station at the other end of town. Well, the 13 was a million years away so I walked to the stop for n. 7—wasn’t far, and only sweating moderately profusely by then—and luckily a tram 7 came within two minutes. However, there was some madwoman driving it (at least, that’s what her hair suggested) and it went to the middle of the town then decided not to proceed to the railway station, as n. 7 is meant to, but instead the indicator boards were blanked out and the tram headed off into the middle of nowhere. By the time I realised this, I got off… and tried to work out where I was, only to find that street signs are not very popular in that part of town. Actually there were none, so after about 10 mins walking around trying to work out where I was I realised I was fairly far from the station…and the train was due out in 15 mins. So I was walking rather quickly, in the sun, barging through fat stupid people blocking the footpaths… not fun.

Besides that, Dresden is lovely. But first Leipzig, which I visited for 3.5 hours on the way to Dresden from Berlin. The main station there is huge, almost as modern as Berlin’s, and the city centre is nice and small and very walkable (albeit with very, very few places to buy a bottle of water. Hmmm.) I meandered for a few hours, took some photos, saw lots of Bach stuff (he lived there… and is buried in one of the churches)—then sat down for a beer as it was too humid that day.

So humid, actually, that it felt almost tropical. And that means a storm is coming—which it did, as soon as I got off the (insanely hot) train to Dresden. Just as I’m trying to walk to the hostel and negotiate trams etc it just pours down. So I was a bit drenched by the time I arrived (even with my umbrella).

Thankfully, though, the rain soon cleared (just my luck to get the brunt of it for the small 15 minute time period where I’m walking with my suitcase) and I went exploring. The hostel I was staying at was at the north end of town… and it seemed a nice, quiet, small, sleepy town. Well it’s nice, and mostly quiet and sleepy, but oops, not small. I wandered down to the river (Elbe) and whoa—ok, there’s Dresden on the other side. So many massive 19th sandstone buildings… all very elaborate and beautiful. I spent a few hours wandering around and still didn’t see them all. Simply amazing (and it killed my camera battery).

By then it was 9pm and time for dinner… so wandering up a street that heads north—in a district that seems to be populated by artists, musicians, and ugly youth who like to sit and drink on the street—I found a quiet looking Italian restaurant… went in and some crazy waiter starts blabbing at me in Italian and hands me a small glass of sparking wine. Hmm. Eventually I worked out I (along with a few other people) was waiting for a table (they were all hidden away outside, out the back… all the ones inside where I was standing apparently were not there to be used). The food was OK, not bad for the price, but the crazy waiter made it memorable.

And then it was time for a shower, etc, and possibly going out—although I wasn’t sure where to go. As it happens, two girls staying in the same room at the hostel were about to head out as well, and didn’t know where they were going, so asked if I wanted to tag along. We did a bit of bar hopping—a cocktail, a shot of Jägermeister, a beer—there’s not an awful lot of places to go in Dresden on a Friday night, and the two clubs looked a bit crap. Eventually we ended up at some really tacky and slightly seedy gay bar in the same street as the hostel, so we had a few more drinks and requested bad music, which was quite an improvement on the rubbish they were playing when we got there.

This morning I got up early (so I’m quite sleepy now) and did more exploring in the old town, seeing the parts I missed last night. I didn’t last long, though, as it is SO hot today. It’s Australian weather here today!

Berlin

Ok, well I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been busy exploring Berlin!

There’s so much to say about the place but I’ll keep it brief. It’s such a huge city! The centre (mitte) and inner districts seem to go on forever. Under den Linden and all the old buildings are wonderful, so many of them, each more bigger and more impressive than the last. Brandenburg Gate was impressive of course, as was the Reichstag.

I would have gone inside more things and climbed up more structures if I had the time or patience to stand in a queue of fat sweaty tourists for hours upon hours… and could afford all the entry fees. It’s hard to do much here for less than 10€ a pop!

That said, in general the city wasn’t all that expensive. Sure, there’s heaps of really dear things and places, but also a lot of cheap stuff. The price of food, coffee, beer, souvenirs, bits n pieces, etc seemed to be on par with Sydney, perhaps even a tad cheaper. The public transport is also quite handy in Berlin--6€ for a day ticket on ‘zone AB’ (inner and middle rings of city), which means U-bahn (little subway type trains), S-bahn (big normal suburban trains), buses, trams, etc.. although all I ever really needed was the U-bahn. My hotel—I splurged on a proper hotel, although I got a very good price when I booked it—was technically in mitte but kind of on the edge in the middle of nowhere (its focal point was the internal courtyard, as there was nothing else around)… but right next to a U-bahn station so getting around was quite easy.

Tuesday, when I arrived, was just random walking about and looking around… and lots of confusion trying to decipher the directions from the airport to the hotel (and the flight was interesting too—I was in row two, and in row one on the other side of the plane was a large, very loud Latvian.. who had never flown before, was drunk as a skunk, and was screaming around and pestering the attendants the whole time. But thankfully it was only a 1.5 hour flight.)

Wednesday I walked around Alexander Platz, Under den Linden, Zoologisher Garten and other random inner city spots. That evening I went to check out some bars that had been recommended to me—one was ok, but basically empty.. the other shut. Oops! Oh well

Thurs, yesterday, I hired a bicycle and rode around for 4 hours. It was great! The road systems here work so well and drivers actually respect bikes… amazing. A few times I caused confusion by stopping for cars, except since I had the right of way they stopped also to let me through. There’s also bike paths on many roads as well to make it easier. It was a good way to see the city, to get around, see new places, etc. Well worth the mere 7€!

And then that evening I did more random wandering. I went to Fassbinder and Rausch, an amazing (and amazingly expensive) chocolate shop with a chocolate Titanic, Reichstag, church, and other Berlin landmarks. Also bought a few things—not cheap but well worth it. Yum!

Barack Obama was also around yesterday—I didn’t go watch him speak or anything (God forbid) but quite a few roads had been closed off during the day… which was irritating. But the rest of the city still functioned normally. (A nice change from the days of APEC in Sydney!)

I’ll have to go back to Berlin sometime. Still so much that I haven’t seen.

Right now I’m on the intercity express train to Leipzig (there for 4 hours then onto Dresden). The Berlin-HBF central railway station was huge and very modern… but with lifts that didn’t work and random platform changes for trains, I wasn’t overly impressed. At least the train is comfortable, AIR CONDITIONED, fast and reasonably quiet.

Tschuss!

Leaving Riga

Well, I’m writing this whilst sitting at Riga airport. My flight doesn’t leave for another 2.5 hours, but I’m bored so thought I’d head over here early. Riga is a nice city, but today it was quite hot in the sun and I’d pretty much seen everything so just went for a random walk through the old town then some other parts of the city to the east of it. I think 2 days is long enough to see Riga. I actually wanted to hire a bicycle the other day, so I asked at the tourist information centre where I could do that. She told me there’s one place, “only” about 2.5 km away, and another that’s online and delivers to hotels/hostels… and located “only” 3km away. So I gave up on that idea as I didn’t particularly want to wait standing outside the hostel for some random bike delivery that may or may not show up.

The hostel was GREAT, actually. I’d recommend it to anyone, Tiger Hostel in Riga. Even the bed linen and towels were themed in tiger stripes and orange colours! Very clean hostel, very clean room, lots of space in my room, and each room has free wireless internet as well as a desktop computer with internet. The staff don’t have the best English and there’s no parties going on, but so what? I wish other hostels I’d stayed in were as nice as this one… (and it was a pretty reasonable price, good location, etc).

At the other extreme, the bus to the airport is one of the stupidest things about this city. Ok, at least they have an airport bus, unlike Sydney (as far as I’m aware). But it’s only four times an hour from the central railway station and runs like a suburban service that also does the airport as an afterthought. The conductor spoke English at least—but a suitcase costs two tickets (so person + bag = 3 tickets). Which is fine, I don’t mind paying more, but since a suitcase is smaller and a lot lighter than a person, why is it two tickets on its own?

That and the bus—which was fairly new and comfortable if you got a seat—was a little hot and overcrowded. And it took forever, through stupid backstreets and stopping every few hundred metres for 2 or 3 passengers. Riga really needs a dedicated airport bus along with suburban services…

And that ends my grumble. I’m going to check in now. I hope my bag is under 20kg! I’m on the sole EasyJet flight for the day to Berlin. I’m just hoping I manage to find my hotel there without getting lost—apparently there’s a train from the airport to the station that’s only 100m from the hotel… but we’ll see.

I’ll add Riga photos very soon (Tallinn 2, Tartu, etc are up).

(Update: Yes, it was under 20kg... just! At 19.6kg I really need to lose some stuff before I pick up more and return to Aus. Plus I've already posted a parcel home!)

Regal Riga

Greetings from Riga, the capital of Latvia and the largest city in the Baltics (as they continually boast).

I arrived yesterday,and spent yesterday afternoon and most of today walking around exploring the place. The old town is fairly beautiful, lovely buildings everywhere, and the city has a park that runs alongside the old town, which is a nice place to sit and relax. There are statues and monuments on every corner!

The biggest annoyance is the tourist maps, as none of them label every street in the old town, making it rather easy to get lost amongst the meandering cobblestones.

The river looks pretty (I'm about to go for a walk alongside it soon). There's also a 26-storey hotel with a bar at the top, which has been a great spot to see everything (and sit down to have a drink).

The language is a bit strange--thankfully lots of younger people speak English--and the streets are a bit confusing. A lot less pedestrian and bicycle friendly than Helsinki or Tallinn. Here, some of the major roads have nowhere for people to cross, and so it's a matter of just running across and avoiding the cars/trams/trolley buses.

Prices are a bit more expensive here than in Estonia it seems, but not too bad. (Plus they use Lats, one of which is worth even more than one pound sterling at spot rates! There's 0.4 AUD to 1 LAT).

Well, I'm off for a walk and to find some dinner... ciao!

Tartu!

Well, I forgot to mention, Friday afternoon I also went to meet some family friends who live near Kadriorg Park in Tallinn. That was ok, we had some very nice food and wine followed by fresh Estonian strawberries (yum)!

Saturday I slept in (oops) then caught a bus to Tartu. Because I didn't get there early enough, the bus I was on (11am service) was packed full. I was squished in the middle of the back seat. Oops. Oh well. It was only a short trip, about 2h 20m.

Tartu was nice (although took me a while to find my hostel... hidden away next to the Russian Consulate in a back alley). I'd heard it would be very sleepy in the summer--it's a university town, so most of the students would be away on their summer break--but as I arrived the place was totally packed with people for a mediaeval festival. Most streets were clogged with stalls, food, beer tents, craft ladies, and lots of fat, clumsy tourists getting in the way. So I avoided the main bits as best I could (until it got late) and just walked around the edge of the town.

The buildings are pretty, although the famous university building, whilst big, wasn't as big as I'd expected (perhaps because it is squished in amongst lots of other buildings). There's a rather nice park and hill just next to the town, which was good for meandering through. I also checked out one of the older suburbs just to the north of the centre, which was interesting, and walked to the local 'beach'! (Tartu is on the Emajõgi River, which is a dark brown colour and didn't look like the nicest thing to swim in... but swim people did!)

Like Tallinn, it's also a town of contrasts--and old town full of old buildings (most are a bit newer in Tartu, mostly 18th and 19th centuries) and across a major road is a new town full of plate glass and steel.

And apart from the crowds that day and terrible service at the restaurant I had dinner at, it's a nice place to visit... but for no more than 2 days I reckon.

Next stop--after a not very nice 5.30am alarm clock for a 6.45am bus--was Riga! (where I am now, and which I'll write about tonight)

Thursday and Friday

These days were spent back in Tallinn. Not as exciting as the first time I was there but still fun. Thursday involved a tram to Kadriorg Park then a walk along Tallinn Bay to Pirita, where the regatta events of the 1980 Moscow Olympics were held. There's not an awful lot there, just a marina and a few shops, plus old church ruins.

I was rained on heavily during the walk, which wasn't fun. Oh well, lucky I packed an umbrella! My half way stop-off point was what I thought was a small museum on 20th century Estonian history. Well, it was pretty big and very well presented, very good quality. Plus most stuff had been translated into English, which was helpful.

Pirita itself was pretty boring. I walked around the old ruins then had lunch at the marina. Decent food but slow service.

Friday.... I can't quite remember so it can't have been to exciting. In the morning I climbed up St. Olav's church (Oleviste kirik), which dates from around the 12th-16th centuries, and during 1549 to 1625 was the world's tallest building... And it was tall! The viewing platform was just over half way up but it felt like the top of the world (and the old stone steps weren't too fun). And The church is located on top of a small hill, and is the height limit for the whole city--ie, no glass-plated modern skyscraper is allowed to be higher above sea level than Oleviste.

Friday afternoon was lunch at the airport (something to do!) and then more walking around.

Wednesday: Muhu and Saaremaa

This day started off rainy and miserable weather-wise, but ended up rather nice and sunny.

The day started reasonably early with a drive to the islands, across the car ferry that runs every hour. There are two big islands off the western Estonian coast, Hiiumaa and Saaremaa. We went to the latter, and the smaller island of Muhu that's joined to it by a sand spit (and highway).

Muhu was nice, we went to see another manor house on the south of the island and then some sea cliffs and caves in the north (only 10 mins drive away). There were also lots of wild strawberries--they were very small, but yum!

Next was Saaremaa, which is quite popular amongst Estonians but looked to me a lot like the mainland with shorter vegetation. It was nice enough though (and moreso when the sun came out). We visited meteorite craters, old buildings, Kuressaare and some wooden windmills.

Kuressaare was the best part, a lovely little town, not too busy or crowded. Lots of old buildings, small streets, cafés etc (and a monkey tied to the top of a van advertising the local circus). We had lunch at a pub, sitting outside. It was great.

Then onto Kuressaare Castle, which is one of the best in Estonia (and the best I've seen so far). It even has a full moat around it! And a drawgate! A big buildings; we didn't go inside but it was fun enough just walking around and having a go at archery (as you do).

Wednesday night I had to return to Tallinn, and after much confusion with bus stops and times, I said goodbye to my relatives and headed back to the big city (well, not a big city, but big by Estonian standards).

More photos are up.
Next posts: Pirita, wandering around Tallinn, Tartu (where I am now)

Tuesday: Pärnu

Continuing on......

Tuesday I got a lift to Pärnu, Estonia's beach city, and was able to spend a few hours there while my relative was busy at a work function. It's quite a small town (although Estonians like to call it a city), only about 25,000 people and three or four main streets. The town itself is small, quaint, pretty... and then a few hundred metres walk to the beach. This was the main attraction of course, especially since it was 26C and sunny.

The beach is wide and long enough (although not as long as most Australian beaches). It's also got brown water (...yuck) and so much stuff on the sand! Chairs, tables, seats, ads, stands, tents, volleyball nets, football nets, boardwalks... bare patches of sand were a rare commodity!

Well, not really, as the crowds were decent (it was a hot day, after all) but I wouldn't say it was crowded like Australian beaches can get. Most people were also rather pasty and quite ugly. Hmm.

Other than that, it was a nice day. Quite relaxing--and I got a bit sunburnt. Oops!

That afternoon I went back to Martna, and then down the road to Suure-Lähtru, the manor house (mõis) owned and renovated by the other rels. It was very nice! My friend (the one who gave me the tour of Tallinn) also gave me a tour of the house. It's so big, and so many old and interesting things! (see the photo gallery). A LOT of work has gone into the renovation and it shows, but they've done really great work with it (and when we got there, we found them in the process of constructing a roof on a new building!)

The past week

Ok, about time for me to write some more on here. I realise it's been quite a while, oops! So in chronological order...

Monday: Today was a visit (with the family I was staying with) to northern parts of Läänemaa, including some very nice national parks and beaches. It was pretty miserable weather, lots of rain, but it was still good to see all these places. We also went to a very nice manner house in Vihterpalu (with about 4 gardeners hard at work...) and an old castle (very famous locally) at Padise. Lovely old buildings.

That night was a stay at the grandmothers' (of the family) country house in the village of Martna. It's a lovely place, with a big vegetable garden and lots of berry trees. Plus an outdoor fireplace/BBQ shaped like a toy train. And I had my very first sauna... but wasn't really to my liking. They were all talking about how 110 degrees is good for a hot sauna and about 70-80 for a normal one... I was thinking this must be farenheit but no, it was celsius... (because saunas are so dry, it doesn't hurt to have it that hot).

All in all a rather nice stay in the country. However it was a bit awkward at times with the family (some others came over too) as only two of them could speak any English and the conversation was in Estonian most of the time (of course). So communicating was a little difficult.

Photos

A few more (only the Suomenlinna Islands in Helsinki, plus a repost of the Tallinn ones) are up at the photos website

I've downloaded and resized the photos for Haapsalu, Läänemaa, Pärnu, Suure-Lähtru, Muhu, Saaremaa and Pirita... but I just need to go through and select the best ones. I'll have these online ASAP.

And I'll have another post too!

Läänemaa countryside

Well, today's been interesting. I got up nice and early to get on the 8am bus to Haapsalu, after convincing my friend to come with me, as he had to be at his parents' mõis (old manor house) out this way. Except he gets to the bus station and then finds out that the bus doesn't go to the little stop that he needs. Oops! I felt like an idiot. And even more so when I rang my relative here asking if she could give my friend a lift to where he was going... except I'd got confused about where she lived and it was in Haapsalu, not the town next to the mõis. Whoops! It all got sorted out in the end, his mother could pick him up from Haapsalu, but after an 8am start and two phone calls waking people up we both felt a bit silly I think. Oh well, c'est la vie.

The bus trip was... suitably boring--but only a bit over an hour away. Haapsalu is very small, but it's very pretty. First stop was here (relatives' house) for breakfast (my second breakfast, but it was hard, not to mention impolite, to refuse the yummy Estonian food). Then we all jumped in the car (with the two boys and the dog) and off we went to see the countryside. It's very different to Australia. So green and the trees are just... completely strange to me. We went to see a big wetland, Matsalu, that's a major bird breeding site (although not many birds were in today) and an exhibition on birds, wildlife, etc at a nearby mõis (these things are everywhere). Then on to the town of Lihula where there's a 16th century mõis (in need of a bit of renovation) and ruins of a 12th century castle. The ruins were fun to climb, but there's not much left, just a few walls and mounds.

And after that was dinner in Haapsalu followed by walking around the local castle--also 12th century but this one was a lot bigger. So old!! And in the middle of it all was a huge modern children's playground... as you do. It was a very popular actually.

Then a quick stroll through parts of the old town (Vanalinn, as they call old towns) and by the water. All very pretty and serene. Not much seems to happen in downtown Haapsalu, but I suspect the locals like it that way.

To top it all off, I went for a bike ride around town. I was a bit wobbly at first, not having ridden a bike in... 6 years(?).. but soon remembered how to do it. I didn't get back till 10pm, but it's still daylight here then and everyone was still up. (It's 11pm now and the sun has only just set)

Anyway, I'm off now, as tomorrow is apparently a tour around the rest of Läänemaa (the county this is all in) and staying with some other relatives. Fun times... I just wish I'd packed more clothes into my backpack, as I wasn't expecting to be away from the place I'm staying in Tallinn, where my suitcase lives, for so long. Oops! I don't think I''ll get back there until Wednesday evening. Oh well!

More photos soon, of course, but I may not be able to post them until I'm back in Tallinn.

Head aega! (bye)

More photos...

More photos are online

It's just Helsinki up so far, but I'll put the Suomenlinna Islands and Tallinn photos up on there soon as well.

Photos!

Finally, I have photos to post!
I've put them on my Facebook as it's easiest:

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=700730411&k=Y3A424V544WMWJGEWG56Q
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=700730411&k=ZW15PV6XSWWMWJGEWG56Q
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=700730411&k=X6MTZ4S6P35MWJGEWG56Q

(Click on the link, then on the album name)

For some reason the Helsinki ones wouldn't upload so they'll come later. But for now, there's three albums of Tallinn!

And I will use a photo sharing website for any more photos

Greetings from Tallinn!

Tere! Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but so much has been happening! On Wednesday I left Helsinki and went via ferry to Tallinn. Finding the ferry terminal in Helsinki was hard work (and involved a long walk down a rather industrial looking road, asking two Russian women, that didn’t speak English, for directions along the way). Ferry trip was kinda boring, it was just a big cruise ship full of boring shops, bars, cafés… and then this island appears in front of the ship soon after we’d left. I could have sworn there were no big islands between Finland and Estonia, and I was right. It was Estonia. Those ferries are very fast.

I arrived, carrying my already overweight baggage, walked through a variety of mazes and walkways to get out of the terminal, and was met by two relatives! (And a third in the car). I wasn’t too sure what to expect, meeting them for the first time, but they were all very friendly and easy to get along with (although one of them, who’s my age, had to translate a bit for the other who, who are a bit older).

So they drove me to my hostel, which was very nice of them (especially since the hostel was impossible to find), and I checked in and dumped by bag (the room is very small and primitive… but it will do, especially since it’s only for sleeping). Next was finding a SIM card so I have an Estonian mobile number (+37255932750 if you have the urge to text me) and then arranging to meet two of the rels again on Sunday for a tour of Western Estonia! (they had to head back home).

So that afternoon the other one (my age and speaks English almost better than I do) took me on a really quite detailed tour of the Tallinn old and new towns. It’s such a contrast here—the old town is lovely, mediaeval, narrow streets and lanes, many hidden treasures (and hoards of tourists… like me), whereas the new town is steel and glass plated, all sparking and clean, with most buildings constructed within the past 5 years or so. I went into an Estonian department store!! Which really wasn’t all that exciting as it was nearly identical to Myer in Australia…. But still quite novel at the time.

The next day (yesterday) I got another tour! My friend’s friend was meant to be coming along too but couldn’t make it, but that didn’t stop us. I got a wonderfully detailed tour of the areas surrounding the city, Kadriorg Park and Palace (very pretty),the beach at Tallinn Harbour (not so pretty), and then on to meet his parents for lunch. Estonian food is so nice! Plus it was great to meet everyone.

Following from that we got a lift to the (huge) outdoor museum, which wasn’t too far from his house. It was quite tranquil but museum-ey, old wooden buildings and straw roofs, windmills, animal houses, etc. And it was also a great seaside location with good views, lovely sunny weather and a nice breeze. There was an Estonian swing by the water, which I got to go on (along with my friend and two women who were also there). It’s four people standing on a wooden A-shaped structure that swings off a rectangular frame, and everyone faces inwards, two on each side. These things can go quite high! And quite enjoyable in a peaceful sort of way.

Next was a tour of the residential parts of town, largely Soviet-era apartment towers and the like. One of the regions was called ‘Blossom Hill,’ but I was assured it wasn’t meant to be ironic. The flats looked quite basic but many had flowers etc on the balconies so I guess they’re home to many people. And the tram lines, shops, etc are all within walking distance so it doesn’t look too bad—unlike in pictures of big Russian cities etc.

And then was supermarket time! The supermarket was HUGE, it had 33 aisles, all full of random stuff. The bread selection was amazing (and I bought an Estonian rye bread) as were all the berries… so we then sat outside eating copious amounts of raspberries and strawberries and biscuit things.

By the time we got back into town—and it was still full daylight—it was about 10pm. Oops! So there was time for a quick drink at a nice Italian wine bar (this city is very ‘multicultural’ when it comes to restaurants and bars) and then he had to head home. So I walked around a bit more then did the same.

And this morning was me exploring some more on my own—cobblestones do tend to hurt the feet after not very long at all—and some aimless wandering around in general. Plus a quick tour of the southern parts of the city by my friend, who was passing through town. Now it’s 6.30, nearly dinner time, and I need to decide what/where to eat! Head aega!

(PS, photos are delayed again, will do my best to get them up tomorrow)

Walking around...

It’s 4pm and my legs are killing me! I’ve just spent the day walking around Helsinki and the Suomenlinna Islands. It’s quite a lovely place here, although I still can’t get over how expensive everything is!

I started the day by walking down to the central railway station—and a nearby shopping megacentre, the name of which escapes me right now. It’s kind of like Melbourne’s QV centre. All very modern.

Next was Helsinki Cathedral, which has the most amazing pipe organ, followed by its Orthodox counterpart, which would have been perfect without the busload of Russian tourists that got there just as I did.

I worked out I could buy an all-day bus/tram ticket for a mere €6, which turns out would also get me to the Suomenlinna Islands on the ferry. So I did that, after some walking around some random streets. The islands were lovely, and have a World Heritage listed 18th Century German (I think?) fortress… which just goes on and on, but is really nice. Lots of places to walk to and down to the water, etc. Would be a great place for kids!

Then I came back to the main harbour, jumped on a random tram and ended up somewhere rather boring. So then tram back half way and walked. There are SO many people selling strawberries here! I’m very tempted to buy some, but a €5 a punnet it just doesn’t seem worth it. Oh well, maybe tomorrow morning before I leave.

Photos to follow soon—probably on Facebook as it’s the easiest thing to upload photos onto.

A quick update from Helsinki

Well, I've arrived... This place is so strange, everything looks so old and different, the trees are odd, the language is just bizarre (most people speak English but the signs are all in this awful gobbledegook called Suomen)

It's a bit strange here... there are about five internet cafes in the whole city and im in the only free one--well, free if you buy a coffee (€2,70) and its only 15 mins. but hey, i needed a coffee anyway. I'm actually in the food hall type section of a David Jones-like department store.

I will post some photos once I get to Estonia and have better internet access.

The streets here are quite nice, everything is old and cobblestone-ey. And the transport! the city planning!! itś just amazing. so many bikes, pedestrians have right of way and DON'T have to press a button to apply to cross the road. Plus a crossing on EVERY street corner. And wide streets. They've done something right here!

My hostel is pretty plain but for two nights it will do. I was feeling a bit lost and out of it last night so I went to the ... Aussiebar! Which felt alarmingly like Australia, even the bar tender was Australian (well, Kiwi apparently but his accent was Sydney I thought). But I've been wondering, why move to Helsinki? Crazy!

Anyway, time for me to go exploring, I want to go and see the Suomenlinna islands if I can work out how to get on the ferry. And I have a tram/bus ticket... €6 for a whole day but I'm yet to work out how to actually use the thing... oh well!

Greetings from Narita!

Well, Ive (cant find apostrophe on silly bilingual keyboard) (ps, こんいちは) landed in Tokyo, where I must wait 4 hours before I get on my next flight--Helsinki here I come wooo...

My legs are a bit sore after 9 hours of conditions the RSPCA would forbid livestock from being transported in. But hey, Im in a new country, its exciting. This airport is a bit old and grey... as is the weather... and the air con is set to a sweltering 32C or so. But all is efficient, the shuttle train between terminals 2A and 2B is kinda funky. And I just want to buy EVERYTHING in the tacky little shops... if only my baggage allowance would, well, allow for it (or if I could find a post office).

I think I might go find some expensive airport coffee now (on credit card of course... yen, what?) then maybe something gorgeous I saw at the shops.

Anyway, on that note, さよんあら！